A Scarred Soul
by sweetcrimefighter
Summary: AU Story Come here, you stupid whore!" he yelled as she was trying to run from him. An Abusive home is where Haley James lives, will she make it through the pain ? Baley and Naley
1. Remembering

**A Scarred Soul**

**Remembering**

_"Come here, you stupid whore!" He yelled as she was trying to run from him. She ran up the stairs, in the hope she could lock herself in the bathroom, but halfway up the stairs, he grabbed her ankles and dragged her down the stairs._

_"Please, daddy! No!" She screamed, begging for him to stop, raising her arms above her face in an attempt to shield her from the blows of his fists._

_"You will learn to obbay me, Haley!" Nick James, Haley's father, yelled as he kept hitting her over and over again._

Haley slowly opened her eyes as she tried to remember why she was laying on the floor of her bathroom. All though she did not want to remember it, it was printed into her memory.

After her father was done hitting her, she slowly climbed up the stairs, into her room, to her bathroom, where she passed out. It can't have been more then minutes since she blacked out.

She slowly stood up as she heard someone enter her room, filled with fear that it was her father coming to finish what he started. But as she saw the shadow of the small tiny person walking across her room, she sighed in relief.

Step by step, she walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed, next to her mother, Sally James.

"I'm so sorry sweety, but you know how he gets sometimes. I just want you to know that he loves you very much, we both do, and we just want the best for you." Sally explained, avoiding Haley's eyes.

"Yeah, I know, you've been telling me the same thing for 5 years now, eversince I was 11 years old. I understand, I'll be a better daughter." Haley replied. Her tone sounded angry and harsh. She blamed her mother for not helping her, for allowing her father to do these things to her. In her opinion, her mother was as bad as her father.

"Okay, good. Make sure to cover up for school tomorrow. You don't want anyone to know our buisiness. Goodnight." Sally James said as she stood up and left the room.

Haley took a deep breath as she felt the tears flow from her eyes, past her cheeks, slowly dripping of her chin. She layed herself down and thought about that faithfull day where it all went wrong. The day when it happened for the first time.

_A young, energetic girl was sitting in her daddy's office, playing with her dolls as her dad was making a work related phone call._

_She threw her dolls in the air, she loved to do that. I made her feel as if she could fly. But she threw one doll to high, too far. The small blonde barbie doll hit the glass door of her father's book cabinet. The glass broke into a million pieces._

_Pieces of glass hit into her, scraping her face, arms and legs. Haley started to scream and cry intensly. All she wanted was for her father to help her. _

_She saw Nick James walking towards her and she reached her arms out, in the hopes her would pick her up, and tell her everything would be fine. But instead of doing that, he did something that would change her life and her view on it forever._

_"You stupid girl ! Look what you did!" He said, raising his arm, hitting her across the face, once, twice, untill she was so beaten she couldn't go to school for a month because her face was so swollen and bruised._

Haley whiped away her tears, she wouldn't cry, she couldn't, she wouldn't let him see her weakness. He would only punnish her for it. With those thoughts, she slipped away into a dream where all her fears were gone and her entire world was amazing. A world where she was happy, if that was even possible.

She woke up early the next morning, it was only 4.30 am. She always got up this early, so she'd have enough time to shower and cover all the bruises on her face.

She undid her bra, very carefully, as she was filled with bruises over her entire body. She slipped out of her underwear, turned on the hot water of the shower and stepped inside.

The hot water felt so good on her bruised body, it eased her pain a little bit. She stayed in there for almost half an hour, untill her skin was bleeding red.

As she got dressed, she carefully picked out clothes that would cover her entire body. A long jeans pants to cover the bruises on her legs, a long sleeved t-shirt to cover the bruises on her arms, stomach and back.

She also put on a scarf so no one would see the hand imprent that was forced onto her throat from when her father tried to hold her down. She then started with the long and slow process of covering the bruises on her face.

Around 7 am, she was finally ready. As she looked into the mirror, she dreaded another day of school. She was a good student, straight A's, she had to be, to please her father. But she had no friends.

She had one friend, up untill two years ago, her best friend. But as the beatings by her father got worse, she shut down and pushed him away up untill the point where they were no longer friends.

Lucas was one of the popular guys now, big shot high school basketball player, with his very popular cheerleader girlfriend, Peyton Sawyer. His half-brother, Nathan Scott and their friend, Brooke Davis. The most popular girl in school.

Haley grabbed her back pack and walked down the stairs. Luckely, her father and mother were always gone this early in the day. They worked in the same law firm and always started early so they could be home at a descent hour.

She didn't eat breakfast, she didn't feel like it. Her throat was still very soar and painfull, so she didn't think she could eat anything anyways.

Haley didn't have a car. She had once asked for one, about a month ago, but her father got so mad and told her she was too young and too irresponsible to drive her own car. That harsh speech followed by one of the worse beatings she had had in the last couple of months, not including last night.

She started to walk to school, a 20 minute walk. But she had hardly left and a car pulled up next to her.

"Hey, you're Luke's friend, right ?" the young blonde, Peyton Sawyer, asked her.

"I used to be. Why ?" Haley asked, she had learned to be suspisious of everyone, that was one thing her father had tought her.

"No reason. 'You want a ride ?" Peyton asked, she was very friendly, very unlike what Haley had expected from someone like her.

"Thanks." Haley said as she walked to the other side of the car, stepped inside and put her seat belt on.

Peyton started to drive, rather slowly, as if she wanted to keep Haley in her car as long as possible.

"So... He talks about you, you know ? Lucas, he talks about you a lot." Peyton said, breaking the ice. It kind of took Haley off guard, which caused her to completely go quiet.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything, but I do hope you'll listen to what I have to say next." Peyton said, briefly looking at Haley before turning her attention back on the rode. Haley just nodded.

"He misses you, Haley. He always talks about how much he misses her best friend. He's worried about you too. He doesn't understand why you pushed him away." Peyton explained, Haley had to try harder than ever to hold back her tears.

"Euh, I was kind of hoping, that, if you saw him at school today, you could talk to him. Say hello, if you want." Peyton said, finally reveiling her true intentions of why she gave Haley a ride.

Haley was still stunned, not knowing what to say to that, so all she did was nod, again.

The rest of the drive, which lasted for less then 2 minutes, was completed in pure sillence. Haley and Peyton stepped out of the car. Haley thanked her and started to walk away.

"Think about what I said !" Peyton yelled after her, Haley turned around and nodded once again.

As she entered the hallway of the school, planning to walk to her locker, she saw Lucas, standing next to his brother Nathan Scott. She stared at him for several seconds, before making the decision, right there and then, to go talk to him.

She walked up to him, thinking about what to say, but having no idea. Before she could figure out what to say, she was standing before him.

"Haley ? Hey." Looking said, clearly suprised by this encounter, but joy sounded in his voice too.

"Ex-girlfriend ?" Nathan mocked as he looked from Haley to looked.

"Euh, no, we used to be friends, best friends. Is something wrong Hales ?" Lucas asked Haley, after informing Nathan about his relationship with Haley.

"No, I just thought we could talk, maybe, if you want, I mean you don't have to, but..." Before she could finnish her sentence, Lucas interrupted her.

"I'd love to talk Hales, lets go for a walk... outside." Lucas added as he saw the curious look on his brother's face.

Haley and Lucas walked outside to the parking lot, where Haley had just come from after getting a ride from Peyton.

"So, what's up Hales ?" Lucas asked, giving Haley a friendly smile.

"I wanted to talk to you. I... I miss you, Luke. I miss us, our friendship." Haley said, again, trying to hold back some tears. That had become a daily mission, holding back her tears. Sometimes, in class, her eyes would begin to tear up so easily for no reason.

"I miss our friendship too, Hales. You're my girl, you know that. I'd really like us to be friends again. Rebuild our relationship. What do you think ?" Lucas asked her with a big smile on his face.

"I'd like that, a lot." Haley replied on which Lucas took her off guard and hugged her, she moaned as she was very soar all over her body. Lucas quickly let her go.

"Are you okay ?" He asked, truly concerned about her wellbeing.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just forgot how strong you are. Really, you could crush a girl with your strength." She joked as she pretended to laugh. Lucas however, didn't laugh. He looked at her with much suspision in his eyes.

"I gotta get to class. I'll see you at lunch ?" Haley asked, changes the subject.

"Sure, see ya at lunch." Lucas said, kind of thrown of what just happened. Haley smiled a fake smile before she headed back into the school.

As the bell rang, Haley headed to her first class of the day. Gym. She already knew this would be extremely painfull for her. She had already dressed, she always dressed in the girls bathroom, so she could put on a long sleeved shirt under her gym t-shirt and very long soks, that came just under her short gym shorts.

People stopped questioning why she did that after a while. They figured she just didn't like to dress infront of other people.

It was soccer in gym today. Haley participated as much as possible in her condition. But suddenly, halfway through the game, Haley got hit with a ball right in her stomach.

She fell down on her knees, bending over, trying to gasp after air. The gym teacher and all the other girls of her class, incuding Peyton Sawyer and Brooke Davis ran over to her.

"Are you okay ?" The female gym teacher asked as she and some other girl helped Haley up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, good shot." Haley said, making some of the other girls laugh.

"Why don't you skip the rest of the class, go hit the showers." the teacher said, Haley thanked her and headed to the showers.

Usually Haley would wait to shower untill all the other girls were gone, she was lucky she had a free period after gym. Haley was glad she could take a shower for once without getting looked at because she didn't shower with the other girls.

But she didn't want to take any risks, so it was a short shower, only 5 minutes. Haley had never heard the girl coming up behind her and gasping for air when she saw Haley's bruised back and legs.

"OMG." the girl whispered, making Haley jump up and turn around. Now she saw her stomach and her arms and throat. The girl could even see the bruises on Haley's face, since Haley's make-up had been washed off by the water and she hadn't had time to put new make-up on.

Much to Haley's shock, the girl standing before her was no one less than Brooke Davis, most popular girl in school, but most importantly, Lucas's friend.

"What happened to you ?" Brooke asked in horror as she saw how badly hurt Haley was.

"I fell down the stairs lastnight, no big deal." Haley said, hoping from the bottom of her heart that Brooke would believe it.

"You fell ? So why do some of those bruises look old and other brand new ?" Brooke questioned.

"Please, don't tell anyone. Just leave me alone, please." Haley pleaded as tears ran down her cheeks.

Brooke opened her mouth as if she was about to protest, but decided to stay quiet when she saw the dismay on Haley's face. Brooke nodded and left the gym.

Haley quickly changed into her clothes, put the make-up back on her face and left the gym, avoiding Brooke's stares at all costs.

During the rest of her classes before lunch, all Haley could think about is that someone knows, not everything, but enough. If Brooke would tell, everyone would find out, including her father. She had no idea what he would do if he thought she told someone.

As Haley walked into the cafeteria, she heard someone call her name.

"Hales! Hey, Hales, over here!" she heard Lucas call. She smiled and walked over to him, dissapointed to see he was not allone.

Peyton Sawyer and Nathan Scott were sitting at the same table. But that's not what frightened her, the one person she had feared the most these last hours, was sitting at the same table. Brooke Davis.

Haley pretended to play stupid, just smiled and sat down.

"Everyone, this is Haley James. She and I grew up together. Hales, this is Peyton, Nathan and Brooke." Lucas introduced everyone. Haley gave everyone a friendly smile, but she could feel Brooke was not buying her act. She could feel Brooke's eyes locked onto her.

About 10 minutes into lunch, Haley couldn't take it anymore. Being around Brooke was making her very nervous.

"I'll be right back, I gotta go to the bathroom." Haley said as she stood up and left the table.

Thank god no one was in the bathroom, she was free to cry or scream or break something and no one would know it was her. But again, she had an encounted with someone she really did not want to see.

Brooke Davis entered the girls bathroom and locked the door behind her. Then she checked all the toilets to see if they were really all empty. Once she concluded it was safe to speak, she adressed Haley.

"So, are you gonna tell me how you got all those bruises ?" Brooke questioned as she looked at Haley with compassion, but also fear.

"I told you, I fell." Haley lied, yet again, knowing that this girl would not accept that lie.

"Oh, you fell, what about the older bruises, did you fall then too ?" Brooke asked, with a very sarcastic tone, Haley noticed.

"I just bump into a lot of things, I'll be more carefull from now on." Haley lied, yet again. She was so tired of lying, but she had no choice.

"You bump into thing ? Like what, fists ?" Brooke asked, more like said, because Haley had the feeling Brooke had it all figured out.

"What do you care ? You're not even my friend." Haley said, rolling her eyes while shaking her head.

"You may not be my friend, but you're Lucas' friend. And any friend of Lucas' , is a friend of mine. Just, let me help, who's hitting you ?" Brooke asked, concern flowing through her voice.

"Please, I told you, I fell." Haley said, now crying again.

"Do you honestly think I'm that dumb ? I know you didn't fell or bump into things. But okay, if you wanna tell me you fell, take that scarf of. It's your neck, if you fell, it's very unlikely you'd have bruises there." Brooke said, now throwing all her attention to the scarf Haley is wearing. Which is very unusual on a day like today, since it's over 20 degrees outside.

Haley just stood there, scared out of her mind, not knowing what to do.

"If you don't take of that scarf, I'm going to Lucas, then I'm going to the principal and then, I'm gonna go to the pollice. It's your choice." Brooke saide, practicly forcing Haley to take the scarf off now.

Haley sighed as she slowly began to remove the scarf. This injury shocked Brooke more then any of Haley's other bruises. Brooke saw a hand imprented on her neck, as if someone has tried to choke her.

"Who did that to you ?" Brooke asked, now feeling nothing but empathy for Haley.

Haley swallowed before telling Brooke the truth.

"My... my father." She confessed.

"How long has he been doing this ? What about your mother ?" Brooke asked, hoping she'd get a straight answer, all though she didn't know what to do about the situation.

"5 years, my mother watches." Haley replies, feeling overwhelmed by shame.

"Okay, okay. You're staying with me tonight. I'll have my parents call your parents, but there's no way I'm letting you go back there tonight. You need to heal." Brooke came up with a temporary sollution, Haley nodded.

"Just one question, why are you helping me ?" Haley asked, completely thrown that someone would help her like that, that someone would care.

"I told you, you're Lucas' friend, besides, you need help and if no one else is prepared to help you, I will." Brooke said, answering Haley's question.

Haley put the scarf back on as Brooke called her dad to tell him about the sleepover. Haley was still not sure of why Brooke would help her, but all she knew was, she needed it, now more then ever...

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	2. Worst Beating Ever

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, reviews always motivate me to update faster. So this is Chapter 2, I hope you like it. And please do review again.**_

_**A/N : I used Victoria Davis in this chapter, but she is completely different from the Victoria bitch from the show, because she had to be for my story to work, just to let you know. :-)**_

* * *

**Worst Beating Ever**

When the final bell rang, indicating that all classes were done for the day, Haley headed outside, looking for Brooke, who told her she'd be waiting outside for her.

When she didn't see her, she sighed, cursing herself for being so stupid to believe Brooke Davis and started to walk away from the school. She had barely taken two steps when she heard someone call out for her.

"Haley!" She heard a female voice yell. When she turned around she saw Brooke running up to her in her cheerleading outfit.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're still here. I totally forgot I had practise." Brooke said, short of breath, as she looked at Haley apologetic.

"Oh, I understand, it's okay, I'll see you tomorrow then." Haley said, thinking Brooke was sending her home, but Brooke chuckled.

"You can come with me to the gym, okay ? Practise is over in an hour, then we can head home together. You don't really think I'd let you standing in the cold right ?" Brooke said as she looked at Haley, who suddenly turned red of shame.

"I... I... sorry." Haley apologized for not believing Brooke, Brooke just gave her a friendly smile.

"No big deal, I understand. Come on, they're waiting for me. You can't have practise without the captain, right ?" Brooke said as she smiled and lead the way to the gym, Haley followed her.

Once there, Haley sat on the bleachers, watching Brooke, Peyton and the other girls practise, while she saw Nathan and Lucas practise under the supervision of Coach Whitey, as everyone called him.

"Hey, Hales!" Lucas yelled, waving at Haley when he saw her sitting on the bleachers, Haley smiled and waved back. She felt so out of her element as she was watching all of these people just enjoying themselves without having a care in the world. She wished she could be like that, but she knew that was a hopeless wish.

The hour past, faster than Haley had imagined, and before she knew it, she, Brooke, Peyton, Lucas and Nathan were all standing outside together.

"So, why were you at practise today ? I thought you didn't like sports ?" Lucas asked, still suprised that Haley was there today.

"She was waiting for me. She's sleeping at my house tonight." Brooke answered before Haley could. Haley smiled a small smile at everyone, as they all looked suprised.

"Since when are you two such good friends ?" Nathan asked, completely suprised that Brooke was being so nice to someone that wasn't Peyton.

"We're not." Haley quickly said, regretting it from the second the words left her mouth. Brooke looked a little hurt but quickly recovered from that.

"I mean, we don't really know each other. And, Brooke needs help with her math, so I offered to help her. Then Brooke came up with the idea to start tonight and we just figured it would be more practical if I stayed with her for the night. Gives us a good chance to get to know each other a bit." Haley lied, even she was a little suprised at how fast she came up with that lie, but not as suprised as Brooke who looked at her with her eyebrows raised.

"And I wasn't invited ? Now I'm really hurt." Peyton said, pretending her feelings were badly hurt.

"Sorry, P. Sawyer, I want all the dirt on this girl first." Brooke smirked as Peyton laughed while shaking her head.

"Come on, Tutor-Girl, let's head home." Brooke said as she took a hold of Haley's hand, gently, knowing she must still be very soar.

"Tutor-Girl ?" Nathan chuckled as he heard Brooke's nickname for Haley.

"Well, she is tutoring me, right ?" Brooke smiled before taking of with Haley.

Once they got to Brooke's home, Haley could tell Brooke was very rich, just as Haley was, but Haley just hid that fact from most people. She wanted to be as invicible as possible.

"So, what do you wanna do ?" Brooke asked, once they had greeted her parents and they had told them that Haley's father was okay with it, and they had headed to Brooke's bedroom.

"Could I just lay down for like half an hour? Rest a bit ? I don't really get much sleep at home." Haley said, figuring she could as well be honest with Brooke, since she did know the truth now.

"Sure, I'll be downstairs, just yell if you need something." Brooke replied, being very friendly and caring. She walked out of the door, gently closed it behind her and walked downstairs.

As Haley could hear Brooke's footsteps on the stairs, she laid herself down on the bed, closed her eyes and slowly drifted away to a world where everything was okay again.

Brooke entered the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner. Her father was still at work, he would come home later that night.

"Hey, sweetie, where's your friend, what's her name ?" Victoria Davis asked, greeting her daughter, looking around to see if she was somewhere in sight, but she wasn't.

"Haley James." Brooke answered, for the first time that day she dropped her happy act and only felt sad, sad for Haley, angry that someone could her a person like that, could hurt his own daughter like that.

"Yes, Haley, where is she ?" Victoria asked again as she continued chopping her vegeatables for the spaghetti sause.

"She's getting some rest." Brooke answered, when Victoria noticed the tone in her daughter's voice, a tone filled with sadness, anger and empathy, she put her knife down, stepped from behind the kitchen counter and sat down next to Brooke, facing her.

"Is something wrong ?" She asked as she looked deep into Brooke's eyes, telling her that something was indeed wrong.

"If I tell you this, you have to promisse to tell no one, not dad and deffinately not the pollice." Brooke said, begging her mother for her trust.

"Off course, I promisse. But you're scaring me, honey. What's the matter ?" Victoria asked, feeling very concerned and protective over her daughter

"What if you knew that someone was getting hurt, but doesn't want anyone to find out about it..." Brooke began to speak.

"Well, how bad is the situation that person is in ?" Victoria asked, being carefull about chosing her words.

"It's a really bad situation, maybe even life threatening." Brooke said, now just realizing how much trouble Haley was in.

"That's a hard situation you're in, but, don't you think it's in the best interest of that person that you tell someone ?" Victoria asked her daughter, on which Brooke replied by nodding.

"Is it about that girl upstairs ? Your new friend, Haley ?" She asked and suddenly Brooke couldn't contain herself anymore, she just blurted it out.

"It's her father, he's been hitting her for 5 years. I found out today when I saw all the bruises, it was horrible, mom." Brooke said in one breath, never knowing that someone was listening.

"I trusted you." Haley said in disbelief as she looked from Brooke to Victoria.

"Haley, I didn't mean to, it was an accident." Brooke apologized, but it was no use, Haley stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

"I think we should call the pollice." Victoria said as she picked up the phone. Brooke just nodded, she had just betrayed someone's trust, something she always prevents doing, no matter how little she knows the person in question.

Haley ran as fast as she could, she couldn't even think about what would happen if her father found out she told someone. She could only hope Brooke's mother wouldn't tell anyone. But that little touch of hope dissapeared as quickly as it came when she reached her house.

There was a pollice car parked on her parents driveway. They had told, Brooke and her mom had told. She was horrified as she stepped up to the front door.

She took out her key, opened the door, stepped inside, and quietly closed the door behind her. But it was not quiet enough, her father had heard.

"Haley ?" He called out, she took a deep breath before heading into the living room. Where she saw her father and mother sitting on the couch, being questioned by two male pollice officers.

"What are you doing home ? I thought you were at a sleep over ?" Her father asked, he appeared to be friendly to his daughter, but Haley knew better. It was just an act untill the pollice was gone.

"We got in a fight, so the sleepover is over." Haley said, playing allong, knowing that if she didn't she'd be even worse off.

"Sit down, Miss. James. We need to ask you a few questions." The youngest of the two officers said, motioning Haley to the empty seat next to her mother.

"Do you know why we're here, Miss James ?" The older officer now asked, Haley shook her head.

"We received a call of domestic abuse taking place in this house. A Misses Victoria Davis seems to think that your father is abusing you. Is this true ?" The officer asked. Haley thought about what it would mean for her if she told the truth. But she was too scared to say anything, so she lied, yet again.

"No, I don't know anything about that. I fell down the stairs yesterday and Brooke, Victoria's daughter, saw a bruise on me, she probably got the wrong idea. That's all." Haley lied as she conjured up yet another fake smile.

"I guess our work is done here, then." The older officer said.

"Haley, show our guests the way out." Nick James said, he had this smug smile on his face. Haley knew it was because he got away with it.

She stood up and led the men to the door. The older officer walked straight out, but the younger one stayed behind, standing right before Haley.

"If you ever need to talk to someone, tell something or if you simply need help. Call this number, my name's on the back, I'm always available." He said as he gave her a piece of paper which he had just written his number on, his name was Ryan Carter. Haley just nodded. He walked away, Haley closed the door behind her.

"Are they gone ?" Nick James asked, coming from the living room. He didn't smile anymore now, he just looked pissed off. Haley knew a beating was headed her way.

"You shouldn't have told anyone, you stupid bitch!" He yelled, before he slapped her across the face, making her fall to the ground.

"I didn't. I didn't tell, I swear. Brooke saw the bruises and figured it out. She told her mom, I begged her not to tell anyone." Haley cried, knowing that whatever she said was no use. He would never believe her.

"Get up!" He yelled as he yanked at her arm, pulling her up. He pulled her arm so hard she felt it snap. It was broken, she was sure of it. She cried out in pain as he hit her in the stomach, causing her to fall again.

He didn't even bother to pull her up again. He just bent down, starting hitting her everyone, along with kicking her in the stomach. It continued for at least an hour, maybe even longer then that. If Haley was sure of one thing while he beat and kicked her, was that this was by far the worst beating she had ever received. It was also the 1st time in all those 5 years that she broke something, and she was possitive her arm was broken.

When the beating finally stopped, Haley let out a sigh of breath, relieved she was still alive. She had been petrified that he would kill her this time.

She was in so much pain, she could hardly move, she dragged herself to the couch, deciding to sleep there for the night, since getting up the stairs would be simply impossible.

She didn't sleep at all, she couldn't. The fear and pain prevented her to sleep. Moving just one inch hurt her more then it ever had. Combined with the pain she still had from the previous beatings that week, she had never felt so awfull.

When she saw the son coming up tomorrow, she knew her parents could be downstairs at any minute. She didn't want her father to see that she didn't sleep in her room, so she softly slid herself of the couch and crawled into the hallway closet, knowing they wouldn't open it because they always took their jackets upstairs with them.

No more then 10 minutes later she heard her parents come down. She was almost afraid to breath, scared to death he would hear it, but luckily they left about 5 minutes later. As soon as she heard her parent's car drive away, she came out of the closet, her hiding place.

She realized that if she went to school today, everyone would see how beat up she was, since all her make-up was her backpack, which she forgot at Brooke's home last night. But if she didn't go to school, she knew her father would find out, and she couldn't stand another beating right now.

The only other option was to call that officer, Ryan Carter. She still had the piece of paper clutched into her hand. She looked at it, but shook her head. She couldn't do that. She was too scared.

So when she finally decided to go to school today, she headed out the door. Still in the same close as the day before, she knew there was blood on them, so she grabbed a long coat she found in the hallway closet, put it on and was relieved to see it covered her entire body. It was so long it came to the ground.

She noticed she was walking with a limp, also very slowly. She had her hair hanging before her face, to cover the bruises and how swollen it was.

About 40 minutes later she arrived at school. Normally she did it in 10 minutes, but this time she was just too weak and beaten to have done that.

As she entered the school, she noticed students were watching her because she was limping. She tried to ignore them and started looking at the floor.

Before she reached her locker, she heard someone calling her name. It was Brooke. Haley was determined to ignore her, so she just kept walking, very slowly as every step she took hurt over her entire body.

But Brooke wouldn't give up so easily, she quickly catched up to Haley, standing right before her.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay ? But we needed to help you." Brooke tried to explain, but as Haley lifted her head up, Brooke was too shocked to say anything else.

"Great help you were." Haley said with much trouble, since even breathing let alone speaking hurt her. After having said that, she started walking again, leaving a shocked and guilty feeling Brooke behind.

But Haley wasn't out of the woods yet, she had just taken 6 more steps when she heard someone coming up from behind her, calling her name. This time it was Lucas.

"Hales, hey, Hales, do you know what's gotten into Brooke, she's like watching you and just standing in the middle of the hallway." He said as he walked up besides her, not yet having noticed her limp.

When she didn't respond and just kept walking very slowly, Lucas noticed she was limping.

"Haley, what happened ?" He asked, but still, he got no response from her. He grabbed her right arm, to make her turn around, but it was the arm that was most likely broken. She screamed it out of pain, shocking Lucas, he let her go as fast as he had touched her.

Everyone in the whole school was looking at the two of them now, including Brooke, who hadn't taken her eyes of them yet.

Haley turned around, her head still looking down to the floor. Lucas saw a small strain of blood travelling down her hand. He carefully touched her hand, she flinged, but didn't pull away. A part of her wanted to run away from him, but a bigger part of her just wanted him to know that she needed his help, only his help, no one elses.

He carefully pulled up the sleeve from her coat, revealing blood on the sleeve of her T-shirt. Lucas swallowed before pulling up that sleeve, reveiling an arm that didn't even looked like an arm. It was all swollen and different shades of collors. It looked broken.

"Haley ?" Lucas asked, not sure what to think of this, did she fall, what happened ? Why didn't she go see the doctor. Haley's arms hurt even more now since Lucas touch it, but she remained sillent, without a sound. After a few seconds, which seemed like hours in her mind, she lifted up her face.

Reveiling it to everyone in plain sight, she could hear people all around her gasp for air, they were stunned by what they saw.

Lucas couldn't even recognize her anymore, you could hardly see her eyes because they were so black and blue. She had several cuts on her face and her lips. Other then that, her face was so swollen that she looked like a big balloon.

"My god, what happened ?" Lucas asked, as he had to hold back tears as he saw Haley.

"Her father did this. He's been doing this for 5 years now." Brooke, who had just joined them, said.

"Why don't you just stay out of this ! It's your fault this happened! You shouldn't have told anyone!" Haley yelled, the entire school could hear her, several teachers had even come out of their classes to see what all the comotion was about, but they were too shocked by the sight of Haley to calm her down.

"You think he wouldn't have found an other excuse to beat you if I never said anything." Brooke said, defending herself, she couldn't believe Haley was blaming her now.

"Wait, you knew about this ?!" Lucas asked, raising his voice now too.

"What is this ?! Blame it all on Brooke day ?! I accidentily saw the bruises yesterday during gym, that's how I knew!" Brooke said, yelling now too.

"And you didn't tell me ?!" Lucas yelled at Brooke, he was so angry that Haley's father would do something, so he took his anger out on Brooke, which he knew was wrong.

"It wasn't my place to tell!" Brooke yelled back, shaking her head in disbelief that everyone was blaming her now.

"But it was your place to send the pollice to my house ?!" Haley yelled, she wanted to cry, but her eyes were too swollen to cry.

"Ugh..." Brooke sighed, waving her hands in the air, she couldn't win, could she ?

Before they could start yelling again, Nathan and Peyton made their way through the crowd, recognizing Lucas and Brooke's voices.

"What's the deal man ? Since when do you start scream..." Nathan started to ask his brother, but suddenly stopped when he saw Haley's face. Peyton saw it too, she was shocked, stunned.

"You should've told me Haley. I thought we were friends." Lucas said, he didn't yell this time, but everyone could clearly hear what he had said. His voice was trembling, they could tell he was on the verge of crying.

"We were friends, we haven't been for two years. I didn't ow you anything." Haley said, she knew she was hurting Lucas by saying that, but she was so mad at the entire world that she just took her anger out on everyone.

"5 years Hales!" Lucas yelled, shaking his hands.

"Maybe we weren't friends these past two years, but what about the first 3 years he beat you. Hu ?! What about then ?! We were friends then. I never stopped caring about you, you were the one that shut me out, pushed me away." Lucas said, a tear running down his face.

Peyton, Nathan and Brooke stayed quiet, they had no idea what to say anymore. They found the whole conversation heartbreaking.

"What happened to my best friend ?" Lucas asked, not paying attention to his tears.

"I guess she's dead. She's gone, Luke. Can't you see ? The Haley you knew, your best friend, she died the day her soul died. Do you see me ? I'm just an empty shell, nothing more." Haley said, for the first time, confessing how she really felt.

Before Lucas could respond to that, they heard a firm and angry voice coming their way.

"What is the problem here ?!" He asked, he was mad that they would dare yell like that in his school, but when he saw Haley's face, his expression turned from angry to stunned, to shocked.

Haley knew everyone was looking at her, everyone knew now. All of her efforts to become so invisible were all in vain. She looked back to the ground, for the first time since last nights beating stopped, she wished she had been killed...

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. No More Lies

**_A/N : I want to thank everyone for reviewing and I hope you'll do the same for this chapter, it's a little shorter than the other and doesn't contain much Baley, but the next chapter will be filled with Baley. Hope you enjoy!_**

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**No More Lies**

Principal Turner was shocked as he looked at Haley, he had never seen someone so badly hurt as she. He sighed as he looked around him at Lucas, Brooke, Nathan and Peyton. Finally, he was able to speak.

"Miss James, please come with me. You four need to come too." He said as he looked at Lucas, Brooke, Nathan and Peyton.

Haley was about to take another step when her leg suddenly caved in. She had forgotten how much it hurt. She would've fallen to the ground, but Nathan had cought her. He was holding onto her pretty tightly, as if he were determaned not to let her go, let her fall. Haley was gratefull for that. She didn't know why, but Nathan seemed to be the only person she couldn't get mad at.

"Principal Turner, is it okay if I take her to the nurses station first ?" Nathan asked, not loosening his grip on Haley, so she wouldn't fall. Principal Turner looked at Haley and Nathan, the nodded.

"Off course, you can take her. Mister Scott, Miss. Davis and Miss. Sawyer, come with me please." Turner said, Lucas gave one last look at Haley before following Brooke and Peyton to the principal's office.

"Do you think you can walk ?" Nathan asked Haley, who he was still holding onto.

"I'll try. I succeeded before." Haley said in a small tone of voice. She tried to walk, but again, her leg wouldn't support the weight of her body anymore. If it weren't for Nathan, she would've fallen to the ground for sure this time.

It was strange, when she was determined to keep this secret, she had been able to walk through the pain. But now her secret was out, and with that all the determination to forget the pain was gone.

"Here, I'll help." Nathan said and without any warning, he lifted her up and started walking to the nurses station. When he got there, he didn't even bother to knock on the door, he just went straight in, carrying Haley in his arms.

"What happened ?" The nurse asked right away when she saw Haley. Nathan gently placed her on the bed and stepped away a little. Haley closed her eyes, she just wanted to shut herself of from everything.

"Euh, she was beaten. I have to take her to the principal, he's expecting us. But I thought it'd be better if you checked her out first." Nathan said, telling the truth, but not ellaberating on who beat her, Haley was gratefull for that.

"Miss. James, are you awake ?" The female school nurse asked, Haley opened her eyes.

"Good, can you tell me where it hurts the most ?" The nurse asked after she checked to see if Haley's vitals were all okay.

"My left leg and my right arm." Haley said, the nurse nodded. She looked at Haley's leg first.

"Well, it's certainly badly bruised. You seem to have old as well as new bruises. I don't think it's broken, but you'd have to take X-rays to make sure." She said as she moved on to Haley's arm.

"Oh, this is definitely broken. You'll need a cast for that. I can't do that here, the best I can do is put your arm in a sling and give you some pain medication. You will have to go to the hospital, to prevent any infections." The nurse said, Haley sighed.

The nurse put Haley's arms in a sling and gave her a few pills she needed to take right away. After that, she told Nathan and Haley they were free to go.

Nathan had offered to carry Haley again, but the medication she had gotten seemed to do it's job and even though she could still feel much pain, she at least was able to walk again. As long as she held on to Nathan.

"You will go to the hospital ? Won't you ?" Nathan asked, he seemed to be truly concerned about her. Haley sighed.

"I don't think so, not unless I want my dad to kill me." Haley said, she wanted it to come out as a joke, but the truth was it wasn't one to her.

"Dad's are just dickheads." Nathan said, suprising Haley, she had heard about Dan Scott, Nathan and Lucas's father, but she never knew Nathan disliked him as much as Lucas did.

"Yeah, they are." Haley said, sillently.

"Look, I know why you won't tell anyone about the abuse." Nathan said as he stopped just a few feet from the principal's office. Haley looked at him, questioning him.

"I can't imagine what you're going through exactly. But, before I got emancepated, I had it kinda rough at home. My mom's a druggy and my dad, well, all he ever did was presure me into basketball, so much so that I even took drugs for him. But I never had the courage to tell anyone about it because I was scared of what could happen next. If I tell a judge or a social worker, what would happen to my dad and mom ? Granted, they're totall jerks, but I still loved them. But I always knew that it had to stop, so, I finally got the courage I was looking for and shut them out of my life." Nathan said, Haley knew it wasn't the same, but she could relate.

"I wish I could just throw him out of my life. But if I send him to jail, I have no one, nothing. I can't stay with my mom, not after what she did. She never did anything to stop him." Haley confessed as Nathan just smiled.

"You could get emmancepated." Nathan said, Haley thought about it and thought it was a rather good idea. She could almost kick herself in the head for not thinking of it herself. But then she thought of her father and her mother. She hated both of them, but at the same time they were all she had, she was too afraid to loose that.

"I'm not turning them in. I can't." Haley said, Nathan sighed.

"No one can make you do anything, even tell the truth, but, think about what I said." Nathan said before they started to walk again and reached the principal's office.

They knocked on the door and went inside, they saw Peyton, Lucas and Brooke sitting there. They looked very sad.

"Take a seat, Mr. Scott, Ms. James." Turned said as he pointed to two extra seats someone had placed in his office.

"What did the nurse say ?" Was his first question, he seemed to be the most concerned about her current state. Haley just shrugged before she replied.

"Nothing. I'm fine." She lied, hoping Nathan wouldn't tell the truth. Nathan looked at Haley telling a lie. It occured to him that she probably told a lot of lies, fooling a lot of people. But he was to concerned about her for some reason to let her lie like that.

"That's a lie, Haley. Her arm is broken and her leg is pretty swollen, she needs to have X-rays in the hospital. And she needs to go to the police, because she won't go on her own." Nathan said, avoiding Haley's hurt look as she probably felt he had betrayed her.

"I'm fine, I don't need the police or anyone. All I need to know is that you didn't call my parents." Haley said, she couldn't leave without asking that. If they had called her father, she could never go home again, he'd definitely beat her to death. But then again, the entire school knew now.

"We haven't called anyone yet, considering the situation. Miss. James, you do know that you are a minor, and that I need to report any suspicion of abuse." Principal Turner said, Haley let out a strange sound that could be interpreted as a laugh or a cough.

"You're kidding me, right ? What about the past 5 years, someone must have suspected something from time to time. No one ever reported me. And if you do, I'll die." Haley said, she avoided everyone's stares as she looked at the ground.

"I've only been the principal here for a few months. I don't know about before, but I know that what I see now is a child in pain, a child in danger. It's my job to protect you from that." Turner said, Haley didn't know what to do now, her life was over.

"You've just signed my death sentence. If I go home, I'm dead." Haley confessed, she knew that it was no use to deceive anyone anymore. They knew, the secrets were out and the lies had been stopped.

"You're not going home. I suggest you go to the hospital first and stay with one of your friends for a few days untill Child Services are here. The police will have to question you first before anything can be done." Principal Turner said.

Haley had her hands in her pockets when she felt the palm of her hand brush against something. It was a piece of paper, she took it out and looked at it. It was the number of that police officer, Ryan Carter. She layed the paper on Turner's desk.

"Could you call this police officer. I only want to talk to him, no other cops." Haley said, Turner nodded.

"We should probably get you to the hospital." Lucas said, it was the first time he had spoken since she had entered the room.

"I'll take her. Haley and I have some things we need to clear up anyways. She can also stay with me, if she wants." Brooke offered, Haley thought about it and sighed. She was still mad at her for telling, but she didn't know where else to go. And even though she needed Lucas, she couldn't stay with him, she couldn't face him. And she knew even less about Peyton than she did Brooke and Nathan made her feel nervous, so that didn't leave her with many options.

"Okay." Haley said, she didn't know what else to say next. She looked around her, they were all looking at her with pitty and sympathy, even Turner. He was on the phone with Ryan Carter, Haley had heard.

It was all set in motion now, there was no turning back. There were no more lies she could tell. She would never be able to go home again. She felt so many things at once, that she didn't really know what to feel. The only thing she was sure of was that things would never be the same again.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**_A/N : Again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Here are some of the reviews from the first 2 chapters :_**

**_Chapter 1 :_**

**bwaybaby32 :**Wow I'm not really into Au's but I like this alot.

_Author's Response : _Thank you, for someone who doesn't really like Au's, it's nice to hear that you like this story.

**_Chapter 2 :_**

**Jess2303 : **wow poor haley... i think brooke did the right thing... haleys dad needs to be put i jail for what he is doing to her... ud soon

_Author's Response : _Yeah, poor Haley, I'm glad you think Brooke did the right thing, thanks for the review.

**LoVeSopHIABuSh : **Wow This story is really good! Poor Haley! Update soon!

_Author's Response : _Thanks, I'm glad you think it's really good, that means a lot.

**tvloony : **this is really good. so powerful. ud soon please

_Author's Response : _You're the first one to say that my story is powerful, which means a lot because that's a big word to use about someone story, so thank you very much.

**_A/N : Please do not be offended if you're review isn't here, I can't possible answer all the reviews every time, but I do answer different reviews every chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chappie and I hope to see you review again._**


	4. The Talk

**_A/N : Hi everyone, new chapter, thank you all for all the lovely reviews, I hope you like this fully Baley chapter and that you review. Enjoy ;-)_**

**The Talk**

Haley was sitting in Brooke's car, as they were driving to the hospital. They had been driving for a few minutes now, and so far, the ride has been one of pure silence.

Brooke had no idea of what to say to Haley, she knew Haley blamed her for her secret coming out, and thrutfully, she was glad it was out, that Haley could get help, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilty either way.

Haley on the other hand wasn't as angry anymore as Brooke thought. Sure, she was a little mad still, but she understood now, she got why Brooke told. And maybe it was for the best, she knew that if the beatings continued, they could go too far one day and she could be dead.

"I'm sorry..." Haley finally spoke, as she apologized to Brooke. Brooke gave her an unknowing look, she had no idea why Haley was apologizing to her, if anything, she should be apologizing to her.

"For what ? If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. You trusted me and I betrayed that trust, and I really am sorry for that." Brooke said, now apologizing herself, but Haley wasn't giving up, she needed to apologize to her.

"No, well, yeah, but I shouldn't have gotten so mad, you were trying to help. I shouldn't have yelled at you for that, I should've thanked you instead. Anyways, I really am sorry." Haley said, by which Brooke chuckled.

"Okay, you're sorry, I'm sorry, I think we've established that we're both sorry." Brooke said, Haley smiled, for some reason, Brooke could manage to make her feel better, even when she felt so worse as she did right now. It was strange, especially since she hadn't known Brooke for long.

"What's on your mind ?" Brooke asked, while she glanced at Haley who appeared to be in deep thought, while still keeping her eye on the road. They would be at the hospital in a few minutes.

"Just... you, how nice you are to me, even though I don't deserve it. And Lucas, I should apologize to him. And then there's Nathan, I so don't get him, he hardly knows me and he's so caring towards me, it's weird, but nice at the same time." Haley said, as she smiled, thinking about Nathan, she didn't know why, but she really liked him for some reason.

And Brooke, being who she is, figured it out as soon as Haley said Nathan's name, she had this enlightened look upon her face. "OMG, tutor-girl ! You so have the hots for Nathan." Brooke squeeled, Haley tried to pretend as if she were offended, but Brooke didn't buy it.

"Oh, don't give me that look, it's too late, I already know you're hung up on Natie boy. And if you ask me, I think he has the hots for you too. I saw him looking at you back in the principals office. You can't fool me. I'm B. Davis." Brooke said, Haley rolled her eyes and laughed.

"What ?" Brooke asked, she didn't understand why Haley would laugh at this time.

"It's just, it's nice, you know. Just talking about boys, stupid meaningless things actually and being able to just set the bad things aside for a while, even if it's just for a few minutes. It's nice, I haven't been able to do that in a long while. So, thank you. I mean it, thank you, tigger." Haley said, now giving her own nickname to Brooke.

"You're welcome, now, about that tigger part ? Nickname ? How'd you come up with that ?" Brooke asked, curious.

"Oh, just, you remind me of tigger from Winnie The Pooh, you're strong and nice and a good friend. So, therefore, tigger. Do you hate it ?" Haley asked, hoping Brooke wasn't mad for gaving her a Winnie The Pooh nickname, but instead, Brooke smirked.

"Tigger, I love it... tutor-girl." She smiled as she pulled her car up the hospital parking lot.

"We're here." Brooke said, this time her tone was a little darker, yes, she had managed to distract Haley so far, but now reality would sink in again, and she didn't know if Haley was ready to deal with that yet.

"Can we... can we just sit here for a few more minutes ?" Haley asked, trying to keep back tears, she didn't want to cry, but she felt like it so much, since this was the moment that would completely change her life. And she didn't know if she was ready for that yet.

"Sure, but, can I tell you something ?" Brooke asked, she had something that she thought might help Haley, Haley nodded, as she whiped her eyes, the tears had begun falling down. Brooke took a deep breath before she began to speak.

"So, I have this cousin, her name's Sarah and she lives in New York. She's 22 and she's an orphan. When she was 15 her father got killed in a car accident and her mother survived, but ended up in a coma, she was practically a vegetable. And Sarah had to live with her father's parents then, but there was one obstical still standing in her way. Her mother, Sarah had to make the decision wether she would keep her on life support or not. And even though she didn't want to let go of her mother, because that meant letting go of the life she used to have, she decided to terminate the life support. Because she knew it was better for her mother, and for her. And even though she knew that decision changed her entire life, she knew she had to do it." Brooke told the story before going back to the silence they had had several times, until Haley broke it.

"Why did you tell me that ?" Haley asked, she had begun crying again when Brooke had told the story, and honestly, she knew why Brooke had told her, but she needed to hear it from her anyway.

"Because, well, I know it's not the same. But it comes down to the same thing, can you make that decision that will change your life forever, or are you gonna crawl in a hole and hide ? Because in the end, it all comes down to the decisions we make in life. And if you decide to not go through with this, just lie again and go back to your parent, there's a chance that someday in the future, you could die. But then, if you make the decision to step forward and tell the truth, you have a chance at a good life, a better life. Yes, everything will chance, and it will get hard, but you have friends to support you through it now. But we can't do that if you don't make the decision to start helping yourself." Brooke said, no one knew this about her, no one except Haley now, but she was actually very insightfull. And, if she couldn't do anything with clothes in the future, her second dream would be to help people, in any way she can.

Haley thought about what Brooke had said and eventually realized she was right. Haley had the choice now, the choice to go back to the life she knew or the choice to try and build a better life for herself. It was her choice, and for once in her life, she was sure about what she needed to do. She needed to step forward, she knew that now, thanks to Brooke.

"Let's go." Haley finally said as she gave a smile to Brooke before they both stepped out of the car. Yes, it hurt Haley to walk, but she had found new strength in herself after talking to Brooke, strength she thought she would have never had...

**TO BE CONTINUED**

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	5. A New Beginning

**_Hi, I'm back, new laptop, new chapter. I hope you enjoy. Again, thank you for all the reviews and to everyone who is reading this story. And thanks for having so much patience with me. Enjoy. Bye._**

**A New**** Beginning**

Brooke had been sitting in the waiting room, waiting for Haley's examination to be over and take her home. That Cop, Ryan Carter, had already been at the hospital when they arrived, he interviewed Haley first, Brooke stayed with her, for support. He had also asked Brooke some questions.

The last thing he said before he left was that he was going to arrest Haley's mother and father. Her mother never touched her, but she knew, she watched, so she was an accomplice. Haley had been shaking a lot during the questioning, but she had been very brave in Brooke's eyes.

Brooke had been waiting almost an hour when she saw Nathan, Lucas and Peyton enter the hospital. She was surprised they were here, she had thought they still had classes.

"What are you guys doing here ? What about classes ?" Brooke asked as she stood up, not that she would give a damn about classes if something would have happened to Peyton or anyone she cared about, Haley was now one of those persons.

"We blew them of, figured we were needed here." Nathan said, he was very distracted, much unlike him. He usually kept such a level head, but it just seemed as if he was troubled with something. Brooke knew what, he was worried about Haley, he liked her, a lot, she could tell.

"How is she ?" Lucas asked, Peyton was holding his hand to comfort him, his eyes were red and teary, it seemed he had been crying. Brooke felt sorry for him, she knew he cared for her more than anything in his life, not more than Peyton, but in a different way. She never realized that all the times he talked about her, but she did now. If the ball would've been in his hands, he would've stayed friends with Haley. He was probably crushed when she pulled away from him.

"She was very brave when she told that cop everything. They took her away after that for examination, I haven't seen her since." Brooke replied, Lucas sighed, she knew he wanted better news, at least more news.

Brooke sat back down and watched Peyton lead Lucas to a chair so they could sit too. Nathan however didn't sit, he began to pace around the room instead.

"Chill, Nate. I'm sure she'll be fine." Brooke said as she watched Nathan go back and forth, he didn't respond. Lucas and Peyton noticed him now too, they didn't understand why he was so nervous.

"What's your deal Nate ? Why are you so twitchy ? You don't even know her, do you ?" Lucas asked, curious to find out what was going through his brother's mind.

"No, I don't know her, much." Nathan said, the only conversation he ever had with Haley occurred a couple of hours ago. He didn't know why, but there was something about this girl that made his heart itch. If he could, he'd find her father himself and beat him up for what he did to her. No one deserved that, especially not an angel such as Haley.

"So, then, why are you so rattled ?" Lucas asked, he knew why he was so shaken up, he knew Haley, or at least, he used to know her. Nathan had talked to her once, maybe twice. He had no reason to be so agitated. Nathan didn't reply, he simply shrugged.

"He likes her." Brooke said instead, Nathan froze in his steps and watched Brooke in horror. Why would she say that ? He didn't like her, did he ? He hardly knew her. Yet, she warmed his heart. He was hurting, because she was hurting. It went beyond simply liking her. It went beyond the friendship he hoped he would have with her. He just didn't know what it was.

"You like her ? How did this happen ?" Peyton now spoke for the first time, Nathan used to be her boyfriend, well, sex-friend was a more accurate term for what they had, but they were long over. But Nathan didn't like girls, well, he did, for the sex, but not for who they were. Unless they were his friends, like her and Brooke. So how was it that he liked a girl he hardly knew ? Nathan gave Brooke a glare before he continued his pacing, he didn't respond to Peyton's question.

"God, this is a seriously weird day." Lucas said, he had been shocked ever since he found out about Haley, but now he had to absorb the news that his little brother liked his former best friend, that could not end well. Lucas loved Nathan, but with his reputation, he didn't exactly want him to get together with Haley or any of his friends. But it did seem different this time, he genuinely seemed to care for her.

Everyone was so consumed with their thought that they never saw Haley walking into the waiting room. She had several stitches on her face, he arm was in a cast and she was wearing a tight bandage on her leg.

"Now I know what I have to do to have some friends, get beaten into the hospital. Not an appealing notion, but apparently it works." Haley joked, startling the waiting teenagers. She knew this wasn't the time for jokes, but she had to do it, to lighten things up a little. She was tired of the darkness.

Brooke stood up and walked to Haley, she didn't hug her because she knew she was probably still very soar. She settled with rubbing her hand against Haley's good arm, gently.

Lucas and Peyton had stood up already, they followed Nathan in his lead and went to stand around Haley. Haley noticed that Lucas was very cautious around her. She felt partially to blame for that.

"I'm sorry Luke, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." She said, a little ashamed to look at him, but he was relieved to hear she wasn't angry anymore and smiled.

"Don't be, you were scared, I get that. I'm just glad that you're safe now." Lucas said, Peyton smiled, she knew this would be the start of a new friendship for them. Nathan stayed in the background, he was afraid to say anything.

"Yeah, it's a new beginning for me now. Kinda scary, okay, a lot scary." Haley confessed, she knew this was good for her, but she was still scared of what was to come. It would be so different now, better, probably. This was her chance at a fresh start and she was going to grab it with open arms.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	6. An Intimate Conversation

**An Intimate Conversation**

Haley was still standing on the same spot in the hospital waiting room on which she had been standing for more than 10 minutes now. Brooke, Lucas and Peyton were very nice, but they were kind of crowding her. The only one that seemed to give her some space was Nathan, she glanced over at him and gave him a small smile, which he politely returned. She didn't know why, but he made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Euh, I really appreciate everything you guys are doing for me, I am. You're more to me than I deserve, so, thank you." Haley finally said, smiling at everyone.

"It's no trouble Haley, really, and it's everything you deserve. I know that." Peyton said, besides talking to Haley once, she didn't know her that well except for the things she knew that Lucas had told her. Haley simply nodded, she didn't often hear that she deserved good things such as amazing friends, she was only familiar with the term 'deserve', when her father told her she deserved a beating for being a bad girl.

"Hales, are you okay ?" Lucas asked as he saw she was drifting to a bad place in her mind. Haley came back to reality when she heard Lucas' voice, she was gratefull for him.

"Yeah, yeah, I eum... Could we get out of here please ?" Haley asked, letting out a sigh at the end of her sentence, she couldn't stay in the hospital another minute, she would go crazy. Being in that place reminded her of everything she just wanted to forget, even if just for one hour.

"We can get something to eat at Karen's Café (the café Lucas' mom owned)." Nathan offered, the first time he spoke since Brooke said he liked Haley.

"I don't know, what won't Karen think of me ?" Haley asked, she was scared Karen would realize why Haley got those beatings, because she was a bad child that needed to be disciplined, and she loved Karen, she had always been able to talk to her when she used to be friends with Lucas. She just didn't want Karen to hate her.

"Hales, you know my mom loves you, she's missed you almost as much as I have these past two years. You were always like a daughter to her." Lucas said as he looked at Haley with much grief, sorrow and guilt in his eyes, also anger, she saw that clearly, not towards her, but towards her parents. She could always read Lucas like a book, after all this time, that hadn't changed.

"I guess that would be fine, I am hungry a little, I think it's because of those painkillers they gave me, cause I feel better than I have in days. I just hope I won't spill my food, since I can't really see much of anything right now." Haley said, she sounded very lighthearted and even happy, one would think. But it was all an act, honestly, she wanted to crawl into a dark corner, someplace safe, and cry, just cry her eyes out.

"It's okay, I'll help you. Do you wanna ride with me ?" Nathan offered, he had driven himself as Peyton and Lucas had come in their car, Brooke obviously came in her car too, since she had driven Haley.

"Okay, sure, I want to talk to you about something anyway." Haley said, she had thought a lot about what Nathan had said about getting emmancipated. And since they were bound to take her away from her parents now, she didn't have much choice, go into the system, or go and live on her own, that last seemed much more appealing than the other.

They all began to walk outside, when Brooke called for Haley, Haley stopped in her tracks as Brooke cought up with her. Brooke had to try her best not to fall apart as she looked at Haley. Haley didn't even look like a person, her face was still black and blue and very swollen, not too mention her leg and arm, but yet she was so brave, braver than Brooke could ever be in that situation. But she didn't want to talk about that right then, she wanted to talk about something else.

"I just wanted to warn you about Nathan." Brooke whispered as she now continued to walk to the cars with Haley. she loved Nathan, she did, but this girl deserved to know what she got herself into when it came to Nathan, she had been through too much too deny her the truth.

"What ?" Haley said, she didn't have to whisper, she wasn't talking so loud anyways, her throat was still a little soar.

"I think he likes you, I'm not sure, but I think so. But the thing is, Nathan never likes anyone, he uses them and then ditches them, that's just his m.o." Brooke said, Haley had heard rumors about Nathan, but she didn't think they were true, not if Lucas was finally friends with him, but appearantly she was wrong.

"Maybe he likes you, if he does, you've got nothing to worry about. But if he doesn't like you, then I'm just warning you to be carefull, you've been hurt enough already." Brooke whispered before saying goodbye to Haley and walking to her own car, Haley looked around and saw Nathan standing at his car, smiling at her, she couldn't help herself, she smiled back. She didn't know if it looked like a small by the state her face was in, but it was meant as one.

She was a little thrown by Brooke's warning, but since Brooke had done so much for her these past hours, she figured she could take the advise and be cautious around Nathan. It wasn't like she was planning on throwing herself on him, she didn't like him that way, and besides, even without Brooke's warning, she would be cautious around him, that's just the way she opperated now, being carefull around people, trying not to get hurt.

Nathan helped her in the car, then got into it himself and began to drive, Haley had forgotten all about the emmancipation questions after Brooke warned her about him.

"Can I ask you something ?" Nathan suddenly asked, Haley nodded, she knew he saw it because he just happened to be looking at her because they were standing at a red light. She was a little uncomfortable around Nathan, but she wasn't scared of him, that was one thing she wasn't around him, scared, never when he was around.

"Why didn't you tell Luke ? I mean, he's a great guy and I know from experience he would do anything to help friends and family, and he considers you as his baby sister, he told me so himself, so, why not tell him ?" Nathan asked as he had begun to drive again once the light had turned green, Haley sighed. She had an answer to that question, but it was complicated and she had never told this to anyone, ever. Why she decided to tell him, she didn't know.

"When I was around Luke, he gave me hope, when I had none, and he didn't even know it. I... I couldn't stand that hope anymore because I had lost all hope, ever bit. It just hurt too much to be hopefull around him and be hopeless without him. So I pushed him away and didn't tell him anything. I know it's weird, but my mind is a little complicated." Haley admitted, she sighed, she had no idea what Nathan would think of her now. He would see how weird she was now and how that was just another reason she had deserved the beatings.

"It's not weird at all. You chose no hope over meaningless hope that didn't do you any good. It's perfectly natural what you did in your situation, how your heart reacted to it. You were just trying to protect yourself from getting hurt even more by having hope and then having to loose it over and over again." Nathan said, Haley was shocked, he understood perfectly what she had felt at the time. She had this feeling as if he would be the only one who would ever completely understand her. It was strange, but then again it was very comforting...

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	7. The Outing

**The Outing.**

Haley walked beside Nathan as they entered Karen's Café - the others were already there. Lucas, Peyton and Brooke were sitting at a table near the window - the largest table available - and were talking in quiet whispers; they were talking about her, Haley was sure.

Nathan gave her a reassuring smile and walked over to his friends; Haley followed, slowly. It was silent when she sat down - awkward. Karen walked over to the table with a sad look upon her face - clearly, Lucas had told her about what happened. She took out her notebook and was planning on asking everyone what they wanted, but stopped when she saw Haley's bruised, beaten face - Karen was shocked, she gasped for air, trying to hold back the tears she felt coming. "Oh, Haley...," she whispered, eyeing Haley with pitty.

Haley sighed, she didn't want their pitty - she didn't want anyone's sympathy. She just wanted to be threated as if she were one of them - a normal person. She knew she could never be that; her soul was too dark for that, but she hoped that she could convince them she was.

"Mom?" Lucas said, sensing my uneasyness. She looked away from me at her son - who gave her a firm look that told her she needed to act normal - and conjured up a smile and asked for our orders.

For a while, while every was eating and laughing and talking about futile things, Haley felt at ease. Her body however, was tense, from sitting so close to Nathan. It wasn't out of fear; it was more like there was some kind of pull between them - it felt strange.

Soon, they began talking about an 'outing'; they wanted to go do something fun, all of them together. Haley really didn't feel up to having much fun - having Nathan there convinced her, though. She would've thought it would have been because Lucas or Brooke, but it was because Nathan. She had a feeling she would do anything for him. No - not anything - _everything_.

"How about mini-golf?" Lucas suggested, Brooke and Peyton groaned, while Haley chuckled and Nathan smiled. Brooke and Peyton hated any sports that didn't involve dance or basketball. Nathan was up for it, he loved anything that could briefly take him away from the pressure he felt by playing basketball. Even though his father didn't push him anymore, he still felt the need to perform better than anyone else. Haley chuckled because of the idea and the girls' reaction; she didn't like sports either, especially in her current condition.

"How about movie and a bite to eat afterwards? It's relaxing and fun. Besides, I don't think Haley will be up for walking around an entire night," Nathan said, Haley was surprised by him - he seemed to know exactly what she wanted and what she didn't. Though, she shouldn't be surprised that he surprised her - it was all he seemed to do, surprise her.

"I like that idea," Haley said, speaking for the first time in over half and hour. Brooke and Peyton smiled and nodded; they already knew what movie they wanted to see - the new Twilight movie that had come out, apparantly there was a very hot guy in that movie. "Then a movie and dinner it is," Lucas agreed, smiling.

They planned to go see it in the weekend, on saturday. They wanted to catch the early twilight showing so they would have plenty of time to eat and talk. Haley felt a little more exited about this 'outing'; she had read the Twilight Saga books and loved them, and really wanted to see the movie as well. So at least something good came out of it. Besides, a movie could take her away from her thoughts - movies took her to a magical world for a while, a world where nothing else matters. A world where all the beatings she had suffered disappeared for a short time - a world where she had no worries at all. That's the main reason why she liked movies and books; they transported her to another place and time. It had always been her escape during the past 5 years - it was welcoming.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	8. Author's Note

_**Author's Note:**_

_Hi, everyone. First of all, I want to apologize for the slow updates. I realize that you are waiting for new chapters and I am dissapointing you all. I just want to assure everyone that none of my stories are on hiatus (especially my beloved Twilight stories, but also the OTH ones and the Charmed one), I just have trouble writing for some. I also want to explain why I haven't been writing much lately._

_I just want to say that I love to write; it's my number one passsion, has been since I was a child. And lately I had been wondering; why? Why do I even write? Why do I do something that's not worth anything to anyone? But I realized I was acting stupid (which is nothing out of the ordinary for me) since it is worth something to someone; it's worth something to the people who follow and read every chapter with dedication for the story I write, which is simply heartwarming. I love all my readers and without you, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near this far with my writing. So, thank you. You'll never know how much all your support means to me._

_And I do it because I love it, it's as simple as that. I guess I had forgotten that somewhere along the way. I just needed a few reminders. I'll never stop writing and I will finish each story currently on my account._

_My main focus stories right now are:_

_Captivity  
__They'll Never Know  
__Concrete Angel_

_It's not because of the reviews they receive or something; it's just because I have them all worked out in my mind. So those will be updated the most, the rest will have slower updates but I will update them. I promise you. And I don't lie; if I make a promise, I stick to it. No matter how hard it may be sometimes._

_So, until I post again (which will be a story chapter). I hope you forgive me for my slow updates and I will work as hard as possible to update more from now on._


	9. Chapter 9

_**Author's note:**_

Hey, all. I know I promised I'd keep updating regularly and not disappear anymore, but there were things I just couldn't walk away from to write a story. My dad got sick, really sick, he almost died. He had to have this massive surgery and it was very touch and go for a while. I've been spending almost all my time with him in the hospital. He's only been home since last tuesday and he still has a lot of health problems we need to be careful off and has 3 nurses a day coming to take care of something still from the surgery. If my dad can get through this next month, through christmas and his birthday (January 1st) okay, then I'm back. If there's another setback, if he dies like they say is still a possibility due to some complications he could have, especially blood clots (he's had them before), then I don't know. I'll let you know at the beginning of January. Again, I'm very sorry, but my family is more important to me than a few stories. I love writing these stories, I do, but they're not the most important things in my life. Sometimes, you gotta set some things aside for more important things, which is what I've been doing these last months. Please bare with me for another couple of weeks, and then I'll let you know the outcome. Then I'll let you know if I'll be back or not.

Lots of love,

Lieselot.


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